


Bart's Friend Diggs

by B3BRV3



Category: The Simpsons
Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Growing Up, Psychosis, Schizophrenia, mental health
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29094285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B3BRV3/pseuds/B3BRV3
Summary: I've had many friends, but there was only one Diggs. Growing up I realized that some friends you have to let go... but Diggs? He was determined to stick around. I had to truly wonder, why?
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Life is much crazier than what I remember. You'd think growing up a bit would make me wiser, HA! No- it just made me taller and if possible, MORE immature.

Names Bart Simp- wait, if you're reading this, you already know who I am. I mean, who hasn't heard my name in the last thirty-odd years? Me and my family have done Everything. Everything, except change.

It felt like I had been living in Limbo at age 10 for more than a few decades. Always doing some wacky thing or having some crazy adventure.

But you want to know what the craziest thing about today was...? I was actually turning... THIRTEEN!

Scream, shout, be amazed! I Bart, yes THAT Bart Simpson had just entered the amazing world of teenagehood. I'm sure it's just like childhood but with pimples.

Haha, _sneer,_ no. Because I had to attend to something that wasn't present in my younger years.

Puberty... AGAIN? Sigh...

Anyway, so yeah, you kinda know the backstory now? This present day, this present moment I was blowing the candles out for my _Sweet thirteenth._

My best friend Milhouse was sitting beside me, and the house was full of all my chums and lesser friends.

Lisa was acting a bit moody, as she sulked next to me, upset over something but how was I meant to know?

"Make a wish, Bart," Mum told me, pointing the phone camera at me as I blew the candles out.

 _Hmm..._ I thought to myself and closed my eyes thinking for a moment what the wish should be. I looked out the window after a second, seeing a falcon soar by and it reminded me of _him_... my brief friend Diggs... and how he had... gosh, not to go dark real quickly, but Diggs... he had psychosis.

Which is a nicer word for being mentally ill... I.E, for him, schizophrenia.

He was living at a psychiatric mental ward.

He was sick... in a way that was much different from other illnesses.

I nodded my head, closed my eyes and wished, _I hope Diggs psychosis goes away._

I opened my eyes then and took a deep breath in, obliterating the flames on the candles.

Everyone cheered, and the cake was sliced up to many pieces, everyone getting a plump slice each on their plates.

"What did you wish for, Bart?" Milhouse asked me, and I groaned, replying.

"Milhouse, if I tell you, it WON'T come true."

"Ha, yeah right." He replied with a snort and dug his fork into the cake's soft sponge. He stuffed it in his mouth and continued, "My wishes never come true."

I sighed, hearing this. _GREAT!_ My wish probably wouldn't come true either. Which is a shame, considering how altruistic it was.

At that moment, everyone screamed. I glanced up, seeing that same falcon from earlier had dived in through the window and was flying around the house in a slight panic.

I quickly yelled at the others, "Everyone, drop to the ground." I climbed onto the table as the party guests crouched like they were in an old ad for a nuclear bomb attack. I held my arm up and whistled to the bird.

It spotted me immediately and swooped over to me, landing it sharp talons onto my outstretched arm.

Everyone slowly began to rise back to their feet, and I noticed that the bird had a little paper note tied to its left talon.

I slowly began to take it off, and read the words of the note to myself, " _Happy birthday Bart, meet me at the tree._ "

"...Diggs?" I whispered to myself shocked at what I'd read. Was he... was he _healed_?

The bird let go of me just then and soared back out through the window. Everyone returned back to the table, but I was in a hurry to escape the party and see if Diggs was really okay.

I began to run to the door but my dad Homer (You know who he is) blocked the way and said in a determined command.

"Oh, no, no, no! You are staying HERE. I did not wait all day just to be skimped out of cake."

"You want cake?" I asked him, almost in a dare. I grabbed the remaining cake that was on the table and smashed it into his face, "Let HIM eat CAKE!"

Everyone gasped, and my mum Marge grabbed me by the arm, shocked at my sudden erratic behaviour, "Bart, all your friends are here, why are you so determined to leave?"

I took a deep breath in, looking behind her at all my school friends and mates. Then in my heart, I felt it hurt as I remembered when Diggs had been committed to hospital.

"Not all my friends..." I finally said, my heart sore from the memory. I ripped my arm away from my mum's grip and ran outside. I got on my bike and looked around again for that falcon. I could see it flying around in the distance like it had waited for me, and I put my pedal to the medal, cycling the direction to the national park.

I dropped my bike to the grassy ground when I spotted the tree that Diggs had mentioned in the note.

It was so very high up, almost as big as a small skyscraper. And there, there he was.

Diggs was standing on the same top branch the first time he had had an episode. He was taller now, his black hair styled actually pretty cool. But that's not what worried me.

No, he had his arms outstretched, like he was going to try 'fly' again.

I would not let him go through with his crazy beliefs.

"DIGGS!" I yelled at him, and he wobbled a bit on the branch, I grit my teeth in terror.

"Is that the voice of... Bart... Bart Simpson..?"

"Yes! You idiot! DON'T JUMP!"

Diggs opened up one eye, glancing down to see me. He then startled back, and I winced as the branch trembled slightly beneath his feet.

"Oh, I wasn't going to jump." He told me with a laugh, now looking at me with both eyes, "I'm going... to _FLY_."

My body went into shock at his statement, "Please, Diggs! I can't go through this again!"

"Go through what?" He asked me, slightly confused.

" _THIS_! YOU BEING CRAZY!"

Diggs slowly stepped back away from the branch's edge. He seemed troubled about something. He glanced down at me once more, before grabbing the tree's trunk and climbing down it. In a few minutes, his feet hit the ground and he looked slowly at me.

"It's been some years since I saw your face. Why today, may I ask?"

"I saw your note and followed it."

"Interesting..." He replied, "So, am I invited to your party?"

"How'd you know it was my birthday today?" I asked, slightly worried.

"I don't know," He replied, his face blank and emotionless to the question, "I guess my spidey senses were tingling." He laughed after he said that and I chuckled nervously back.

"Are you... better now...?" I asked him quietly. He just stared at me. Stared right through me.

"Who knows?" Diggs said with a shrug of his shoulders, "I guess we'll wait and see."

That did not fill me with newfound confidence...


	2. Chapter 2

We walked back towards the town of Springfield, me and Diggs.

He seemed to be in a world of his own, his dark eyes gazing to the sky as his pupils followed the falcon that flew high above us as if guiding our way.

"I can't believe you are back in Springfield, man," I said to him, quite amazed yet perplex.

"Ah yes," Diggs replied, still watching the bird. He slowly turned his gaze to me and smiled slightly, adding, "It's the only town where if a person goes missing, they'll never find him."

"Him?" I perked up surprised with that specific pronoun. It took a couple of seconds before I realized who he as talking about, "...you!?"

Diggs just chuckled, and pat me on the back gently.

"There are over a thousand Springfield towns in the world, and this one hasn't been documented."

"...oh," I uttered, thinking this over and realizing it to be true, "But... but where will you stay?"

"Why, I could build a nest in a tree. Look after my eggs and watch my babies grow."

I lowered my eyebrows, a discerning frown on my lips. It was at that second Diggs looked at me with a huge smile and added, "KIDDING! Heh heh."

"Oh, r _iiiight_ ,"

I played along, but really had a deep concern for my friend, "Well if you want, you can stay at my house?"

"... really?" Diggs asked, surprised by the invitation, "Like brothers?"

"-er-"

"Like BROTHERS?!" Diggs cheered and did a fist pump through the air, "That sounds awesome."

"I'll have to ask my mum first."

~x~

"Absolutely NOT." Mum said to me infuriated, "We already have enough crazy in this house."

"Uh!" Diggs irked, insulted, "I'm only crazy when not given my pills."

"Same here!" Grandpa called from the dining room.

"Who let Grandpa back in?!" Dad yelled angrily.

I looked at my mother, my eyes getting bigger, tears swelling around them and mum glanced away from my puppy dog eyes, whispering to herself.

" _Don't_ be fooled by his puppy dog eyes, having another kid in the house would be a disaster."

She peeked a look back down at me and grit her teeth. She slowly bent down to my level, as I was still a bit shorter than her and asked me, "Bart... are you sure this is what you want? Or what Diggs wants?"

I sighed heavily, thinking this over. I glanced at Diggs, my friend smiling and giving me a nod. I felt a coldness in my heart... but it bet gently as I realized I pitied him.

ME?! Be the pitier?

I breathed in heavily and looked at my mum nodding.

"He needs _ME,_ mum... I'm all he's got."

Mum bit her lip, looking over to the older teenager and sighed adding, "I know how it feels, Bart... okay, he can stay for a while."

"Woo hoo!" Diggs cheered giving his falcon a high five, "No more having to eat the prey my bird kills for me."

"Heh heh...?" Mum chuckled awkwardly.

"That wasn't a joke," Diggs replied and she mumbled under her breath.

"... I know."

~x~

Turns out the party had pretty much disbanded when I had left in search for Diggs. My new friend sat on the carpet in the living room, right up to the TV as he stared like a zombie into its screen.

"...Diggs?" I asked him, as I was sitting on the couch and a few feet away.

"Yes, master?" He asked and I laughed awkwardly.

"Heh heh, yeah... maybe you shouldn't be so close to the TV."

"But it's telling me things..."

My teeth gritted and I bit my lip worried, pushing myself more to the couches edge and asking.

"Really...?"

"Chhh! No," Diggs laughed and put his hand in his pocket, pulling out a small plastic jar of medicine, "Not as long as I keep taking my meds."

"Y'know, Diggs..." I said to him quietly, getting up and placing my hand on his shoulder. He squinted back at the touch and I quickly lifted my hand off him, "You don't have to keep making jokes at your own expense."

He looked slowly into my eyes, his own ones seeming lost and worried.

"It must be hard having this illness."

"I wish it WAS an illness..." He muttered then, his voice getting quieter the more he spoke, "But illnesses go away eventually... my brain, it doesn't work right."

I blinked my eyes slowly, feeling sympathy towards him.

"It's like my mind is me and my brain... it's, it's my enemy. I wish you could understand."

He clenched his fists and pierced his eyes upwards, yelling, "I wish EVERYONE could understand!"

He took a deep breath in and a heavy broken sigh out, "But no one ever will..."

I knelt beside him, giving a half-sad smile of my own.

"If it helps... you're not alone."

Digg's eyes looked guiltily into mine.

"I've got A.D.D."

"Attention Deficit Disorder?"

"Is that what it stands for?!" I said, laughing in shock at the revelation just then, "I always thought meant I had hyper energy and no control."

"What I wouldn't trade to have what you have and not my own 'illness." Diggs said sadly and pulled his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth in a cradle, "But the grass always seems greener on the other side."

"The grass next door _is_ greener." I told him, "Dad's pretty much destroyed our lawn."

Diggs chuckled at that and I gave a warm forgiving smile. I pat him on the shoulder and stood up to leave.

Diggs turned his eyes back to the screen, but seem to contemplate something, and moved a little back from the blinding TV light.

I was at the entranceway to the kitchen and saw this happen. I smiled gently and went to get some chocolate out of the fridge to snack on.

When I closed the fridge door, Lisa was just behind it and I jumped back frightened when I saw her standing there, arms crossed and a judgemental look on her face.

"Yes...?" I asked, unwrapping my chocolate bar and taking a bite out of it.

"What's up with you and Diggs?"

"Whaddya mean?" I asked, my words mashing together as I chewed my chocolate.

"You barely know this kid, and already you two are sharing deep secrets?"

I blinked my eyes, puzzled from Lisa's bizarre observation.

"Because we're friends. We share common viewpoints."

She crossed her eyebrows and I suddenly realized something.

"Ohhh," I said, and laughed to myself, shaking my head from being so ignorant, "That's right! You've never had a true friend before."

Lisa's mouth dropped open when I said that, and I pat her on back in comfort.

"One day, Lis, one day."

That shut her up and I turned to leave the room.

I wish I hadn't taunted her that moment, that day... for she was going to get me back.

And it was going to hurt.


	3. Chapter 3

I lay in bed that night, just thinking.

I had made some radical decisions today, and even though I was happy for Diggs that he could stay out of the psychiatric ward, I felt a bit unsettled in myself.

Who was I to say that he was ready for the world? But then again, who was I to say that he wasn't?

Diggs had been put into the guest room for his bedtime. I didn't know we had a guest room, but whatever.

I could hear my breathing, feel my chest going slowly up and down. I was worried for him... he was different, BUT that did not mean he was bad.

As my eyes slowly turned off and sleep was about to approach I woke suddenly – the sound of the roof being stepped on wakening me.

I got up carefully, and opened my window, poking my head through and seeing Diggs up above, waving his hand at me.

"Hey, Bart!"

" _DIGGS?!"_ I screeched and quickly lept from the window to our tree that was beside it. I climbed up the branches and landed my feet on the tiled roof, glaring at him, in worry, "What are you doing up here?"

"Talking to the owls!" He said in delight, "They're nocturnal you know?"

"Yes, I knew that..." I muttered under my breath. Diggs was sitting at the top edge of the roof, and put his hands on each side of his lips, calling out to the dark.

"Hoo! Hoo!"

"Diggs, we have to go back to bed."

"Do we...?" He asked, and a smile grew up his cheeks, "After all, it's morning somewhere in the world."

" _Yes,"_ I stressed and grabbed his arm, yanking him up and back to my bedroom window, "But NOT _HERE_."

"Shame, isn't it?" Diggs uttered sadly and jumped over to the tree like a pro. He scaled down it and swung from the lower branch, landing into my room. My eyes opened a little at the seeing of his skills. I tried to copy his moves but when I let go of the swinging branch I miscalculated and had to grab hold of the window sill with my hands. I was dangling there, and Diggs laughed.

"Don't try to be like me, Bart Simpsons," He said and grabbed hold of my arm. He pulled me up and into the room, "I'm part bird, part boy and part ninja."

"Heh heh," I laughed at his joke and settled back on my feet, but my body was still tensed up from the near fall, "Y'know Diggs, you can be funny."

"I don't want to be funny." Diggs replied back to me, as if annoyed at that compliment, "I want to be right."

"Ohhh... kay?" I said, a bit confused by what he meant by that statement.

He looked at me slowly, askew and seeming like something was making him unhappy inside. He sighed and began to leave my room, uttering.

"But I'll never be right..."

I didn't see him for the rest of the night, and my sleep was not well because of my worry for him.

~x~

When I woke up the next morning, I felt very groggy. I slowly pressed off my alarm that was vibrating on my phone, rubbing my eyes and getting up on my feet to get changed. When I left my bedroom I walked across the upper hallway. When I passed by Digg's room, I took a few steps back, peeking in through the gap of the door and saw... he wasn't there.

I bit my lip, my body tensing again and I hurried down the stairs, hearing Lisa laughing with someone.

That someone being Diggs.

I took a relieved breath out and came into the kitchen. Diggs and Lisa were up and at the small round table eating what looked like breakfast.

I smiled, and grabbed a bowl, pouring myself some cereal out from it.

"What were you two laughing about?"

"Oh, well you see, Diggs was just being funny eating his breakfast."

"What's so funny about that?"

"I told him that eating live worms was totally gross."

"Live – WHAT?"

I suddenly looked down to my spoon that was heading towards my mouth, seeing scribbling worms crawling over each other and I yelled frightened. I slapped the spoon of worms away from my mouth and stared at Diggs horrified.

"Worms?! You can not eat WORMS for breakfast."

"Yeah, your sister said the same thing." He replied with a shrug of his shoulder, "But that didn't stop me from trying."

Lisa giggled to herself, but I was just crossed.

"Listen Diggs, you can't be doing crazy things all the time or else you'll be sent back to the crazy ward."

"Crazy ward...?" Diggs uttered confused, and looked at me as if hurt, "This isn't me being crazy... worms are full of protein."

"In this house, in this continent, it is NOT _NORMAL."_

"I'm not trying to be normal," Diggs muttered, looking down to the floor and gulping in internal pain at my words, "I'm just trying to be ME."

"Yeah?" I said back, and glared at him, still upset over me nearly eating worms, "Well, BE less YOU."

Diggs eyes widened when he heard me say that. His eyes just looked back and forth through the air, processing what I said and he placed his own spoon slowly into his bowl of worms, getting up.

"Okay..."

His eyes shined with salty water, but I kept my angry stare on him.

"I just need to be alone right now..." He continued and after that took a few steps out of the room, leaving the house.

Lisa slowly glared over at me, her expression very disapproving.

"How COULD you?!" She asked me, and pushed her own breakfast bowl away, getting up and leaving me as well.

"How could I what?" I asked her in a yell, "I do NOT want to eat worms, and he shouldn't either!"

She shook her head once more at the exit and came out to the backyard where Diggs had headed.

"I'm not the weird one here!" I shouted at her, and tossed my bowl on the ground, getting up and following to prove my innocence, "I'M _NOT_!"

As I came outside I saw Diggs under the backyard's tree, sitting there and rolling back and forth in a cradle position.

Lisa had knelt down beside him and said to him.

"Diggs, it's okay..."

He had his eyes closed, tears streaming down his cheeks and he shook his head pathetically, whispering.

"It's not... It'll never be... Bart's right."

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her, "I shouldn't be eating worms."

I approached them slowly and he glanced up at me, adding, "Crickets are more nutritious."

He grinned at Lisa when he said that and she took a second to realize he was joking.

"Uh? Haha!" She burst into laughter and pat him on the back.

"I get it..." He said then, looking at me, and smiling sadly now, "I have to change my diet... it's not normal in _this_ continent."

I nodded in agreement, and he sighed sadly, getting up and adding.

"But it is normal in parts of Asia and Africa."

"Diggs..." I warned him and he laughed.

"They also eat dogs in Asia too," He continued and rubbed his hands together hungrily adding, "Where is Santa's Little Helper anyway?"

"You're joking right?" I asked wearily.

"Like you said," He said with a grin, "Not in this continent."

He reached his hand to Lisa, and she took hold of his offer as he helped to lift her back to her feet.

"Has anyone ever told you you have perfect hair? Like a star with many edges?"

"Er, actually, a few people," Lisa replied.

"I'd like to wish upon your starry hair."

Lisa smirked, holding back her laughter and asked like I wasn't even present between them, "Joke I hope?"

"Sure," Diggs replied and turned to look back at me, shaking his head slowly and whispering, "It's not..."

Lisa only laughed. Maybe the two of them would get on better than I thought. All I knew was that I was getting to know the real Diggs more... and this worried me because there was so much more to him than I realized.

His illness, his slightly broken brain... it was apart of him. That I had to remember. One part affected the other, and I just didn't know if this was the real Diggs... or the illness.

I just didn't know...


	4. Chapter 4

"Let's go into the national park," Diggs had said while we headed back inside, "Let's climb the mountain and see the world below us!"

This seemed totally random, and he looked between both me and Lisa to see if his idea had any support from us.

"Er..." I hummed out, thinking through his plan.

"Definitely!" Lisa said, almost swooning at the thought, "I mean, we won't have nature forever at the way the world is going."

"The world is always going," Diggs told her, making a circle in the air with his index finger, "It's spinning on an axis."

"Yes," Lisa said, crooking a coy smile up one side of her lips, "I know. A tilted axis to be correct."

"You're not wrong," Diggs replied wisely and clasped his two hands together as he eyed the forest far off in the distance, "You in, Bart?"

I blinked my eyes, surprised to be included back into the conversation, "Hey, I have to have something to eat first."

"Alright, alright." Diggs said, pulling out his phone and looking at the time, "You have five minutes, staaaarting NOW!"

"Wait- what?" I yelped, and saw he had put a timer on his phone, "At least give me ten minutes!"

"Thirty seconds have already passed!" He shouted at me, and I bounced back and forth on my feet, growling angrily but ran inside and pulled out a nutrition bar from the cupboard. I ripped open its wrapper and came back outside, shoving the nutty bar into my mouth and swallowing it whole.

"Bart," Lisa said to me worried, "It's not safe to eat like that."

"Did I beat the time limit?" I slowly asked Diggs, panting from the fright of the sudden challenge.

"Yes," Diggs said to me, nodding his head once and grinning widely, "Almost by three minutes!"

"YES!" I cheered and he chuckled in response. Lisa, however, frowned at him, and he held back his laughter, saying.

"You should be very proud of your brother."

"Hmm... _yes."_ She replied back coldly, folding her arms and Diggs came between the two of us, swinging his arms over our shoulders and directing us to the mountains far off in the distance.

"Breathe the air in." He told us, taking a deep inhale in with his nostrils, "Y'know what that smell is? FREEDOM!"

Lisa grinned, looking with smart eyes into his, and I could pick up on something about her... she, I think she actually _liked_ Diggs.

_That's crazy!_ I thought to myself as Diggs released his arms from our shoulders and pointed ahead, yelling.

"MARCH!"

_Diggs is crazy, too crazy for her._

I shouldn't have held that prejudice, but Diggs was more eccentric than a normal fourteen-year-old.

"Aye, aye, caption!" Lisa cooed after him, following him as he marched forward to the forest which was at least thirty minutes on foot from our house.

I watched the two walk on, and I wasn't sure what to do. Something told me I had to stay with Diggs, protect him from himself. Lisa didn't know him the way I did.

I groaned pathetically and ran over to them, catching up.

~x~

We soon reached the top of one of the lower-lying hills and could see a ceramic view of the town down below. There hadn't been much talking on the journey there, as Diggs had almost seemed to become one with nature. Plus every time someone made a noise he would go "Shhs!" And that would silence us again.

As we stood so high above the world he finally swung his arms far from his body and looked like he was trying to give the air a hug. He only exclaimed, "THERE SHE IS! OUR BEAUTIFUL TOWN! SHELBYVILLE!"

"I think, you mean SPRINGFIELD," Lisa said to him, nudging him over to the town on the other side of the hill.

"Ah, yes! The Ugly Duckling!" Diggs cheered, looking down to our town and seeing the nuclear plant and the burning tire pile, "In the future, what a SWAN she'll be!"

"Why did you praise Shelbyville first?" I asked Diggs and he cocked an eyebrow up, adding.

"Who?"

"Shelby-"

"Shelby... Shelby...?" He questioned to himself and tapped his chin with his finger in thought, "Sorry, I've never heard of such a place."

Lisa only giggled and he smirked at her, a sparkle in his eye.

"You are one craaazy guy, Diggs" I joked, though my words felt half-true about him.

"I'm not CRAZY." He suddenly yelled and me and Lisa flinched back in reflex, frightened at Diggs' sudden outburst.

The atmosphere around us suddenly felt much tenser, and he closed his eyes, tilting his head down and muttering.

"This... this is me, Bart Simpson."

Lisa slowly approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder in support.

"He was only joking, Diggs."

"But I'm not a joke..." He uttered, turning his head slightly and looking Lisa in the face, "I'm not someone to pity."

"I wasn't pitying you, Diggs," I told him quietly, taking a step towards him in an approach. He took a step back away from me, and I felt hurt at his reaction. He gazed down to the ground, chewing his bottom lip before peering back up at me and asking, "Just don't call me crazy anymore... please."

"Alright," I agreed and he smiled softly, suddenly lunging toward me, "Gah!" I cried as he swung his arms around me and hugged me, lifting my feet off the ground in such an airtight embrace.

"THANK YOU, BART!" He said to me, squeezing me once more and I gasped.

"Can't _breathe_!"

"Now you know how I feel!" He laughed back, releasing me and I stumbled backwards on my feet dizzily.

Lisa giggled at the scene and he turned to look at her, his playful grin still very present on his mouth.

"Do _you_ want a hug too?"

"What-?" Lisa peeped, her cheeks flushing red and he grinned wider, approaching her like he was a bear getting ready to kill its meal, "N-no!" She laughed running away from him but he grabbed her before she could properly flee and squeezed her just as tight, lifting her feet from the ground as he had done me.

When he placed her back on the ground, he removed his arms from around her and I saw he was blushing slightly too.

I had a feeling Lisa liked _liked_ him but seeing the way he was staring at her at that moment... maybe he was starting to like _like_ her too.

I awkwardly stood between the two, feeling like a third wheel and not being pleased at all with that position I had been put in.

"Hey, Diggs." I said to him and the two looked away from one another to me, "Do you want to roll...?"

"Roll...?" He asked me, and I pointed down to the grassy slope of the hill we were atop of, "Bart, YOU read **MY** _MIND_!" He cheered and dropped to the ground, pushing himself off the top of the hill's side, like a barrel being flung down by gravity.

Lisa glared annoyed at me and I saluted her cheekily, adding.

"Gotta roll!"

I quickly joined him, and my sister looked on at us, not impressed.

" _boys..."_ She uttered and slid down the slope on her feet.

"Men!" I could hear Diggs call as he slowed down coming to the end of the slope. He sat with his knees bent like Buddha, watching as I slowed to a stop beside him, "Boys wouldn't be able to survive such a fall."

I nodded and sat next to him, but saw something that perturbed me.

"Er... Diggs?"

"Yes, master." He said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Your... a-a-arm..." I said, nearly feeling vomit coming up in my mouth.

Diggs cocked an eyebrow up and looked down to his left arm, seeing a sharp broken bone had jotted out of his skin.

"Oh..." He said, tears of pain rising in his eyes, "You don't see that every day..."

"DIGGS!" Lisa screamed, running up over to us and he smiled at her, picking up his broken arm with his normal hand and waving it at her.

"Hello, lovely Lisa."

Lisa knelt down right beside us, looking at it and wavered in nausea, before fainting from the sight.

"Goodness" Diggs just said, shaking his head, "We have to get her to a doctor. Bart?"

"Y-yeah?" I replied hesitantly.

"What I'm about to do next is not your fault, okay?"

"Kay...?" I said, and Diggs suddenly burst out in a high agony filled scream.

For some reason, I felt like this was exactly my fault.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ah," Diggs sighed out as he was rolled by a trolley into the injury ward, "Home away from home."

"This should've never happened," Dr Hibbert said disapprovingly with a shake of his head. Diggs's arm had been recast again, three years after the original first break.

I twisted my fingers around each other nervously as the doctor shone a small light into my eyes, before checking me for any dangerous injuries of my own.

"Don't blame Bart," Diggs said to the doctor, looking over to me with a sound smile, "I was the one who accepted the dare."

"Yes, hmm..." the doctor only hummed, placing his chin on his hand in thought. I felt his dark hands touch my muscles and I don't know why, but I felt molested. The doctor moved away from me moments later, saying, "Yep, he checks out okay."

"Urgh..." The two of us glanced away to the ward's opening, Lisa was coming back to her senses as she sat up on the moving trolley that placed her against Diggs's, "Where- where am I?" She asked half zonked and I laughed awkwardly.

"The emergency ward."

"The what?!"

"Hospital," I told her, this time more direct. Lisa's eyes widened and she peeped in horror.

"The hospital?!" her eyes rolled back a little as she wavered there, before fainting again on her bed.

"She faints easily," Diggs said, smiling at her unconscious face, him adding, "I like that in a girl."

"Heh heh, yeah..." I laughed awkwardly. Diggs suddenly burst into laughter too in response to me and he gazed over to the doctor, pointing at him and laughing even harder in uncontrolled hysterics.

"None of this wouldn't have happened if you had been at the psychiatric ward."

"That's not my home." Diggs suddenly said, his expression and voice going completely serious with no interlude to the dark emotions, "It's a prison."

"You have to stay there for a while, Diggs," Dr Hibbert told him, very frustrated but worried for the boy, "Until your medicine kicks in."

"Medicine?" Diggs asked him, laughing half-heartedly, before hissing, "Medicine is for the weak."

"Diggs..." I said afraid, and came over to him, placing my hand on his forearm, "You haven't been taking your drugs?"

"Well.. not really. You see, I had gotten better."

"BECAUSE of your drugs." Hibbert yelled at him, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb.

"YOU don't know that." Diggs replied in an angry whisper, "I could just be growing out of my psychosis."

"For some people, yes." Hibbert admitted easily, but still looked worried over at Diggs, "But for most schizophrenics, its a life long illness."

"I'M _NOT_ **ILL**!" Diggs suddenly roared at him, his fists clenching and slamming onto his lap. His eyes were getting veiny as tears swelled around them and he uttered, "I'm _just_ different."

"You have to take your tablets, Diggs." The doctor continued, looking at him concerned, "Or else you just keep going downhill."

"My tablets? MY TABLETS?" Diggs yelled at him and picked up a container of anti-psychotics, grabbing a pile of them in his hand and ramming them into his mouth.

"DIGGS! _NO_!" I yelled at him, my hand reaching out in terror trying to reach him. The doctor was on it instantly as he pressed a red button and nurses and other medical staff rushed in. They grabbed Diggs' arms, pulling them back as they hiemliched him and his spat the drugs out, drool coming down his chin from the pain of the strategy used. Tears began to fall down his cheeks, he hung his head forward in defeat and mustered up the strength to say.

"I'm sorry..." He gulped and the nurses released him as he dropped back on his trolley bed and closed his eyes, crying, "I'm sorry I'm so messed up."

"Diggs," The doctor said to him, getting the medical staff to take away any and all anti-psychotics there was in the room, "I know this is not you. THIS." The doctor said, pointing to Diggs' forehead and the dark man sighed half-dead inside, "Is just you when you're not well."

Diggs sighed heavily and nodded his head, but the tears were still rolling down his face.

"So tell me.." Dr Hibbert asked once again, "Why did you stop taking your medicine?"

Diggs lay there, his eyes clenched tightly closed and he uttered out a few inaudible words.

"What, Diggs...?" The doctor asked him again.

"I thought..." Diggs finally said, biting the bullet, "I thought I was normal again... and taking the drugs meant that I wasn't."

He sat up, his eyes still closed as he dropped his head forward in disappointment, sadness in himself.

"But I'm not _normal."_ He whispered the word and slowly opened his red veiny eyes, looking at the man, then over to me.

I didn't know how to feel in this situation. It felt very intimate and raw. I was too young to be going through these deep existential fears. I was only thirteen, remember? Just barely leaving childhood.

I bit my lip as I look at my friend, and said the only thing I could think of that would help him.

"I'll always be there for you, Diggs."

He nodded his head weakly in return, and I took a breath in as I added.

"But I'm not the one who can help you here." I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply as I was prepared to continue, "You _can't_ stay with me any longer." Diggs' mouth dropped opened and I looked at him, tears almost welling up in my own eyes, "You need professional help, and I c-can't give it to you."

"That's not _always_ being there for me," Diggs uttered quietly in return, and the doctor looked over at me, nudging his head to the exit door, I followed him nervously as the two of us left the room.

"Bart," The doctor said to me quietly outside in the hall, "Diggs is at a very crucial period in his life."

"I know..." I remarked weakly, my eyes looking down ashamed and helpless.

"You don't realize this now, but Diggs needs help. YOU can't be it."

I nodded my head, wiping my runny nose with the back of my hand.

"But you can still help in other ways."

I blinked my sore red eyes up to him and replied, "How...?"

"By being what you said you'd be." The doctor said to me, and I looked at him, needing to hear.

"By being his friend."

"I'm trying! I'm TRYING!"

"Being someone's friend isn't about solving all their problems."

I gulped weakly as he leant down a little to eye level to me and placed his dark hand on my shoulder.

"It's just about being there."

It was then I understood him completely. He was right. I couldn't be the answer to Diggs' mental health. But I could be his answer as a listening ear, a non-judgmental friend that could just be there.

It hurt me inside though, knowing that's all I could be. But what else was there?

I looked back at the doctor as he smiled softly at me, nodding his head.

"... how?" I finally asked, and he stood up straight, directing my eyes back to the glass on the door with Diggs being seen through it on the other side.

"Come visit him once a week. Let him get better slowly and just let him be him, and you be you."

"So that means, cut down on the crazy jokes?"

The doctor chuckled to himself without warning. He quickly realized what he was doing and straightened up his tie replying, "Yes. If it hurts him, don't tease him."

I sighed and nodded my head. That was understandable.

"By the way," I asked him, before he headed back into the recovery ward, "Where's Lisa?"

"Right here," I heard her say, as she dizzily stepped over to me and doctor Hibbet, "They gave me some wake-up drugs, so I am good!"

The doctor took the small container away from her hands and looked at the label of it suspiciously, "These are just tic tacs."

Lisa silenced herself quickly, before yanking them off the doctor and muttered out, "Let's just go home."


	6. Chapter 6

I felt pretty bummed out for the rest of the week. Me and Milhouse were walking back to my house after school on Wednesday. It was the day I was going to drop into the psychiatric to visit Diggs, but a part of me didn't want to go.

I was just scared. Of what? Maybe the fear that he would be crazy. Maybe the fear that he'd be unpredictable.

I swallowed hard at just the thoughts and Milhouse butted into my thinking mind as he asked, concerned.

"Bart? Are you okay?" I looked over at him as he posed me this question, "You've been a bit quiet all week."

I sighed heavily, nodding my head in agreement.

"No... I'm not okay." I said back quietly, my eyes shiny from near tears, "I'm meant to be visiting Diggs today...but, but I'm afraid."

"I totally understand," Milhouse replied with a quick nodding of his head, "He might try and murder you or something."

"MILHOUSE?!" I shouted back shocked at his assumption, "Just because he had schizophrenia doesn't mean he's some crazed lunatic!"

"B-but-!" Milhouse continued, trying to defend himself, "In the movies they always are!"

I closed my eyes tightly, shaking my head, "When have movies ever been right about real life?"

"That's true..." Milhouse replied, nodding his head weakly and continued, "Then why do they create characters like that, Bart? Why DO they create the characters!"

"I'll tell you with one simple word," I told my ignorant friend and Milhouse lowered his thick eyebrows annoyed.

"Money."

Milhouse just rolled his eyes and replied, "I guess that is a big factor."

I nodded back and we approached my house. As I went to open the front door, Milhouse asked.

"Wanna play some video games?"

"Is the coffee black?" I replied sarcastically, getting pumped up, "Of course I wanna play some video games!"

"Cool!" Milhouse cheered.

We entered the living room and I turned on PlayStation, clicking into a first-person shooter game and choosing the option of two players.

The console was connected to the web and people from around the globe were joining in on the first match.

Millhouse and I grabbed our remotes and started jamming our fingers into buttons. We were on the same virtual team, but we weren't really strategizing properly.

"Milhouse, COVER ME!" I roared at him, and he pulled back his joystick running up behind my avatar on the screen. In a few seconds, someone let off a hand grenade and blew us both up.

Big red words rammed onto the TV screen, saying **YOU LOSE**

I grit my teeth hard and pressed the button **GO** for the next round. We played until it got dark and I could hear a knocking on the door's frame as my mum entered and asked me quietly.

"Bart, don't you have homework?"

My eyes widened at that sudden realization.

"Oh! Crap! I DO!"

I look up at the clock on the wall seeing it was nine pm.

"I've gotta get home!" Milhouse said in urgency and mum picked up her keys, directing her eyes to him and saying.

"Come on, I'll drive you."

"Thanks Mrs Simpson."

"Come along now." She said as she reached the front door and turned the handle, leading Milhouse and herself out.

I took a deep breath in with anxiety, before rushing up to my room with my heavy school bag and getting straight to work.

It took two hours and I was exhausted after it. It didn't help that I probably answered nearly every question wrong. I wasn't dumb, I just wasn't very academic. THAT DOESN'T MEAN I WAS DUMB!

I fell back on my seat after it was all done and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath out. As I rested my tired brain I saw flashes of a scene in my sleepy mind.

Of Diggs's sad forgotten face, his eyes looking back at me and him asking sadly, "Why did you not visit me?"

I jumped awake at the thought and saw I was in a quiet room. I headed downstairs and sat at the table, before spying my dinner mum had made hours ago. I got up quickly and walked over to it, placing it in the microwave and heating it for two minutes.

As I waited, I leant against the kitchen counter and could hear a girl's voice say to me, disappointed.

"You never visited Diggs today."

I blinked my eyes opened, as I had had them shut in a small nap while I waited for the microwave bell to go. The person I saw before me was Lisa.

"How did you know?" I asked her, placing my hands on my hips and she sighed, rolling her eyes exasperated.

"Because Diggs is my friend too. And friends BE there for each other."

"Don't try to give me a moral lesson, Lis, okay?" I spat back and the microwave dinged. I opened its door and took hold of the sides of the plate where the heat wasn't so intense. I pulled it out and quickly put it on the round kitchen table. I pulled out a knife and fork and dug into the mash and steak meal.

"I'm not trying to guilt you, Bart." Lisa told me with a sad shake of her head, "But if you weren't going to show, you could've at least told him."

"I WAS going to show." I said back in a half-lie, "I just got distracted with videogames..." She kept her angry gaze still on me and I asked nervously back, "How is Diggs now, anyway?"

"He's a lot better." She told me with an honest relieved smile, "He's full of energy and quite chatty. We were talking about the bird migrations and nature running her course."

"Oh... fascinating..." I mumbled not really interested.

"It was fascinating. He's so well-read." Lisa said in an almost smitten voice, "And he understands how it feels..."

"Hmm?" I murmured as I swallowed down my mash, "How what feels..?"

Lisa remained quiet for a while, looking at me distantly and uttering, "You wouldn't understand."

"Probably not," I said back, not really listening. Lisa scrunched up her lips making a discerning, _hmm_ , and getting back to her feet as she walked away.

"Probably not..." She repeated and I glanced up at her as she left the room.

See, at least then at that moment, I knew Diggs hadn't been abandoned completely that day. Lisa had been there for him.

He wouldn't be upset at me. He had HAD a visitor, and someone was better than no one. That someone didn't HAVE to be me. Not today, I wasn't ready yet to go visit him.

In truth, I would find a million excuses. In truth... I was scared.

I remembered what Milhouse had said to me, " _He might try and murder you or something._ "

I knew Diggs was not at all like that. It was ignorance on my part. I knew he was okay. Okay in a different way.

Different wasn't always bad. But it still didn't take away the guilt I began to feel at that moment.

"Tomorrow." I said to myself, throwing my dirty dishes into the sink, "I'll visit him tomorrow..."

"...or the next day." I added on as I went to brush my teeth.

"Or this weekend." I said as I lay on my bed and pulled the quilts over me to fall asleep, "Or the next weekend."

 _Or never..._ my brain chimed in my head and I clenched my eyes tightly, trying to ignore it.

"One day..." I mumbled nearly asleep, "One day..."


	7. Chapter 7

I felt bad not having visited Diggs that week. It was like a hard knot in my heart, the guilt was killing me inside.

But I just couldn't bring myself to go... and I didn't know why.

Apart of me considered that it was because I was going to see Diggs in a mental ward for the first time.

Sick... disabled... his mind, as he said, was his enemy.

I could never imagine what it was like to have his illness... disability... condition. Whatever the heck you wanted to call it.

It was the second week that finally got me off my butt. I saw Lisa heading for the door with mum for a trip to see Diggs. I had to ask.

"Why are you visiting him again?"

Lisa was just at the door about to leave. She looked at me perplexed and answered.

"Why not, Bart? He's my friend."

"Hmm, yeah... sure."

"Oh, that's right!" She said back sarcastically with a roll of her eyes, "You don't have friends, because you don't know how to treat them."

That made the string break.

"Me?!" I shouted at her, getting up from the couch I had been sitting on, "I have more friends than you could ever count."

"Yeah," Lisa smirked and left the house with mum, uttering, "On one finger."

I growled furiously and ran out of the house after them. I yanked open the car's back door and sat myself forcefully down, crossing my arms annoyed.

"Bart..." Mum said confused as she looked back at me from her driver's chair, "You're coming too?"

"Of course." I spat out, Lisa sitting next to me with a scowl and low irritated eyebrows, "Diggs need his real friend, whom I am."

"Chh," Lisa smirked and leant herself against her glass window, looking out to the world beyond it as Mum pulled the car out of the driveway and onto the road.

"Bart," Lisa asked me, finally turning her angry eyes towards me, "Why are you even coming? Because of some rivalry or pride?"

"NO." I snapped back, holding my folded arms closer to my chest and looking down to the ground. I gulped, however, finally biting the bullet and added, "I should've gone weeks ago... I-"

Lisa looked at me, her eyes growing concerned and her expression worried.

"I'm a bad friend..." I finished, sighing heavily. I closed my eyes and leant back on the seat. A moment later I felt a hand place on my shoulder and I looked at my sister who had shiny eyes and a weak smile pasted on her lips.

"You're not..." She told me, squeezing my shoulder softly in support, "You're just scared."

I grimaced, and nodded my head weakly, having to admit that.

"Everyone gets scared sometimes, in situations that are new and different."

"I don't need your therapy lesson, Lis," I told her. I opened my eyes more fully again and looked over at her, still seeing her smiling warmly, "I'm fine. FINE."

"Okay," She replied, her voice so quiet I could barely hear it.

After ten minutes we arrived at the hospital and parked the car at the back of the building. I think Mum did it that way so no one would know we were visiting a mentally ill person.

As we got out of the vehicle, we headed across the car park till we reached the sealed automatic door. I watched as Mum pressed the doorbell, and a few seconds afterwards a woman's voice projected out of the small speakers that were drilled to the right of the door.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is the Simpsons. We're coming to visit a patient called Diggs?"

"Oh, hello, Mrs Simpson." The voice replied, recognizing her probably from other visits, "Come on in. Just know, that Diggs has other visitors today."

"Oh! Should we come back later?" Lisa asked quickly and the voice only laughed that off.

"No, don't worry."

That moment the door was unlocked and we pushed it opened, the three of us feeling nervous now at the prospect of meeting the other visitors.

I looked around the ward. There were people laying on the couches, some wandering around aimlessly and some screaming from their rooms.

We walked down the narrow hall till we reached Diggs's private room. I guess I should've presumed that a young teenager wouldn't be sharing a room with older mentally ill people.

I should've known, honestly.

Mum slowly tapped on the door, and it was opened slightly on the other side by a tall man with black hair and tired lines around his eyes.

"Hello?" He asked, bewildered at the sight of us.

"Hi, I'm Marge Simpson."

"Oh!" The man said loudly and came out of the room. I could see through the gaps that there was an older lady visiting Diggs inside as well.

"Diggs told me all about you."

"I'm sorry," Mum quickly said, clasping his hands gently in a scared shake, "I shouldn't have been visiting your son without your permission."

"It's okay." He replied back and looked down to Lisa and my height, "I'm glad he has friends who care enough about him to visit. Do you want to come in?"

"Actually-"

"We can wait," Mum interrupted me and I bit my lip anxiously, "How long do you need?"

"Me and Mary are actually finished up now." He said and pulled opened the door once more, shouting for his wife.

She came out and I saw Diggs follow behind her. When he saw Lisa, his eyes lit up with glee and he waved over at her, Lisa waving quickly back.

I smiled too at Diggs, but it was like he was looking straight through me... he didn't even make any eyesight at me.

"Come in Lisa!" He told her and hugged his parents goodbye as they began to leave. Lisa and Mum went into his room, but I felt that same fear again. I watched as his parents began walking down the hall, and I ran after them suddenly, running before them to block them from the door.

"Yes, Simpson?"

"Bart, actually," I told him quickly and he smiled, chuckling. His wife looked a bit distant and forlorn in herself.

"Ah, Bart, of course." He said back as if having some recognition of me, "Diggs's old friend."

"Is he..." I asked, nervously, looking at his father and mother in the eyes, "Is he angry at me..?"

"Why would he be...?"

"Has he..." I continued, still not convinced, "Has he mentioned me?"

"Yes," His mother said quietly, her eyes glancing quickly up at me before back to the ground, "Lisa's brother."

 _Oh boy,_ I thought to myself at that moment, _he must be mad, he must._

"I'm sorry, Bart." His dad continued but I shook off his remark saying.

"No, it's my fault."

"Er, no." Digg's father replied pointing to the exit door, "I mean, sorry but we have to get going."

"OH! RIGHT! RIGHT!" I cooed back and stepped to the side, letting them past.

They waved at me as they left the ward and I waved back weakly. I took a deep breath in, returning back to the door of Diggs's room.

As I stood before it, I could hear laughter on the other side. Mum and Lisa were laughing, things had settled down.

I pushed opened the door to join the group and conversation, but the moment I entered everyone grew quiet and just stared at me without even a peep.

"What were you guys laughing about?" I asked nervously, pressing my back to the wall and leaning on it weakly.

"Just how cuckoo birds are natural-born killers."

"..."

I honestly didn't know how to respond to Diggs's answer to my query.

"...okay..."

"The baby is laid in a foreign nest and when it is born, it pushes all the other eggs out."

"Jeeze..." I said, disheartened by that reply, "So... how is that... funny...?"

"It's NOT!" Diggs roared back at me suddenly, a big grin on his face, "That's why we were laughing!"

He quickly broke back out in hysterics and mum and Lisa followed him in laughter.

I did not know what was going on and faked my own laughter. I took a few steps over to Lisa, nudging her with my elbow in her side and she glanced at me.

"Why are you laughing?"

"It's contagious." She replied in giggles and soon the room died down a bit back to a normal time and settled atmosphere.

"So ladies," Diggs said to my mum and sister, "I'm sorry to ask, but could you two leave me and Bart alone for a minute. I have to talk to him in private."

"Oh," Lisa peeped surprised, and Mum also look mystified, "...okay."

"Thanks," Diggs's said, winking at her and Lisa smiled widely, her cheeks skimming the littlest bit pink, "Won't be more than a few minutes."

"No worries," Mum said and opened the door, the two leaving us.

When I heard the door shut itself completely, I turned my eyes back at Diggs and he smiled widely, a bit goofy.

"What did you want to ask or tell me, Diggs?"

"I wanted your blessing." He replied back and I blinked my eyes, baffled.

"My blessing... for what?"

He waved his pale hand at me, waving me over. I took a few nervous steps towards him and he pulled my collar, whispering in my ear.

"I want to marry _your_ sister _._ "

I gulped, terrified at hearing those words. All I could think of answering with was, "But, _why_?"

I think my words just blew past him and he chuckled adding.

"May I have your blessing...?"

What was I going to say?


	8. Chapter 8

"Well, Diggs... are YOU for real?"

My question was blunt and straight to the point. Diggs only blinked his eyes twice and answered back confused.

"What do I mean? Of course, I'm for real. BART." He told me, pulling my shirt collar and me up close as if to intimate or to show his extreme seriousness about the topic, "I am the most realist I have EVER been."

"B-but-" I said, tripping over my words as I peered mystified into Diggs's dark eyes, "It's not, it's NOT even legal!"

"So we'll have a seven-year engagement, no worries."

"Yes, worries," I demanded back at him and shoved his clasping hand off me. I stepped back, well more stumbled and I looked at him astonished, "Lisa would not say ' _yes'_ to you."

Diggs sat back silently on his bed. His eyes turned away from me, like all thoughts in his mind had for once gone silent and he didn't know how to respond. I watched him, worried for the both of us but especially him.

He finally cleared his throat, shaking down the wrinkles on his shirt and he looked slowly back up at me as if disappointed.

"Well," He said, gazing at me, but it was more like he was looking through as if I wasn't even there, "I only asked for your blessing, not your permission. So." He continued briskly with a coldness to his voice now and he just stared at me, like I was a stranger, "Do I have your blessing?"

I wanted to say yes, I so really wanted to make him happy and pleased.

But I couldn't. The whole idea was ludicrous. IT WAS STUPID.

I finally glared back up into Diggs cold eyes and responded just as cold, "NO."

"Goodbye, Bart."

He said that so suddenly, I honestly thought I had heard wrong.

"What?"

"Please leave me alone."

I didn't know how to answer him. His eyebrows had lowered and he was not happy anymore.

"I'm sorry, Diggs, but... it's not time... even ask her. She would reject you."

Diggs closed his eyes and tilted his head down in pain at what I said.

"Reject me... because of my illness?"

"Because your only fourteen and she's only ELEVEN."

"Hmm..." He murmured. He finally snapped his head up again, his eyes yanking open and he told me, "Bring her in."

"But-"

He squinted his eyes at me, and my heart beat heavily. I moved towards the door and pulled it opened just the slightest, calling out for her, "Lis...?"

"Yeah, Bart?" She answered and I waved her towards me. Before she entered the room, I suddenly slammed the door closed behind me and pulled her aside to tell her what she needed to know.

"Lisa, Diggs is going to ask you something that you have to reject because he's loopy at the moment."

"What's he going to ask me? I think he's asked me everything by now."

" _Not_ everything..." I said, my words trailing off. Lisa raised an eyebrow and folded her arms, asking back distantly.

"What, Bart-?"

"Lisa, lovely Lisa!"

I froze when I heard Diggs's voice on the other side of the door, as he pulled it opened and looked at her, his eyes twinkling in warmth and expectancy.

"Yeah, Diggs?"

"Did Bart tell you?"

She turned her gaze back at me and I swallowed, uttering, "Lisa... you have to say no."

She crooked one of her eyebrows up and turned to look at Diggs. He stepped outside, just before he fell to his knees, grabbing her legs like he was begging for her to save him. Lisa was a bit surprised at this sudden movement and glanced at me lost. I honestly shrugged my shoulders, holding my hands out as if I was just as surprised at his actions.

"Lisa, will you help raise a flock of young birds with me?"

"Whelp," Lisa smirked, looking at me with amusement in her eyes, "You've never asked me THAT before."

Diggs only chuckled and let go of her feet, looking up at her and pulling out a velvet box. Her eyes widened and she looked quickly at me again. I could tell from her expression she was beginning to freak out at the next possible prospect.

"Lovely Lisa, will you make me the happiest cock and be my bird?"

"Huh...?"

Diggs closed his eyes, giggling as he opened the velvet box up and there was a beautiful pink diamond ring inside.

"Will you be my mate for life...?"

Seeing the size of that diamond would make any girl swoon. But Lisa was not any girl. She was my sister, and wouldn't fall so easily for something so sparkly-

"YES, I WILL!"

My jaw dropped at her words.

"REALLY?!" Diggs spluttered out and got quickly back on his feet, looking at her amazed, "YOU _WILL_?!"

Lisa was giggling like a buffoon, her body not able to remain still as Diggs pulled the ring out and slipped it on her small ring finger.

I was honestly aghast, lost for any words that would bring reality back to this situation.

"Just so I know for certain." Lisa added to Diggs as he stood beside her with a big goofy smile on his face, "This isn't a dream."

Diggs punched her hard on the arm and she howled out, "OUCH!"

"See!" He said in delight, "Not a dream."

"I wish this was a dream..." I told myself, still not accepting this as reality, "But this, this is a nightmare."

Lisa called over Mum and mum approached quickly, smiling oblivious to all that had just gone down.

"Mum, mum!" My sister cheered, holding her hand out and indicating to the ring on her finger, "Guess who just got ENGAGED!"

"HUHHHUHUHUH!" Mum gasped and fell against the wall, her body nearly fainting.

"THANK YOU!" I yelled at her, looking back at Diggs and Lisa like _they_ were the crazy ones.

"IT _IS_ TOO SOON!"

"No!" Mum gasped, trying to stand up straight as she hyperventilated. She approached Lisa and just looked down at the ring with sparkles in her eyes, "I've just never seen such a beautiful DIAMOND ring before."

"Thank you, soon to be Mother In Law." Diggs said with a grin and I honestly felt like I was the one going crazy, not Diggs, "I got it from my grandmother. Pried it right out of her cold dead hands."

"...okay?" I said, my voice nearly jumping in worry. I must be delusional. Being here must have me imagining scenarios that weren't real. This couldn't be real. Be reality.

"Well, Bart..." Diggs said to me, grinning widely at me as if he was the truly wise one between us both, "I guess we can remain friends. OR better yet." He whispered giddily into my ear.

"Brothers!"

I'd always wanted a brother... but no... no, this had to be stopped before everyone went mad.

I'd have a talk with Lisa and mum when we got home. I couldn't bear seeing Diggs's heart break when he realized this wasn't going to work. It couldn't. It was only puppy style love for Lisa... not grown up doggy style love-

THAT sounded wrong. Let's just put it this way. NO ONE here was ready for marriage. I had to make Lisa see without her hating me. I had to make Diggs see... without him abandoning me and our friendship.

But was I really being a good friend to him?

In my head, the answer was yes. But in my heart... sometimes things weren't always black and white.

And I was beginning to understand that the more I grew up...


	9. Chapter 9

When we arrived home, I just stormed to the living room, flopping myself down on the couch and folding my arms, very angrily.

Lisa was still at the door, walking gingerly in with mum who also guiltily following.

"Bart, I-"

"You should've said no."

"But- but-"

I glared up at her and she shut her mouth quickly. I slit my eyes and stared into her soul, a dark expression coming from me, as I greatly disapproved of all this chaos.

"You don't even really know him. WHY, Lis?"

Lisa pressed her fingers together, fiddling them nervously before looking back over to me and uttering, "I understand him better than you think." I looked at her confused, "He's an outcast... like me."

"You're NOT an outcast, Lis."

"What was it that you said?" She said bringing up a topic that was weeks old, "I don't know how to treat friends because I don't have any?"

I zipped my lips at her words. She continued, almost jaded, "Diggs understands."

I watched her silently as she turned the ring around on her finger, looping it before putting it back in its proper place.

"He understands.."

"The only thing Diggs understands," I answered her, standing up now to face her eye to eye, "Is birds and his weird obsession with them."

Lisa only looked deep into my eyes, almost feeling some sort of sorrow for me, "Look beyond the words and actually see the person."

With that, she left me and walked away upstairs to her room. It was then I felt my mother's eyes on me and I stayed stilted in my angry position, muttering.

"Yes, Mum?"

"Go easy on her, Bart."

I lowered my eyebrows and glared up at her as she approached me.

"The wedding is so far off that Lisa will probably see the truth well before it actually happens."

I sighed, nodding my head weakly and looking shamefully down to the ground.

"Just be her brother." Mum continued, placing her hand on my shoulder and I gazed sadly up at her, "Just be her friend."

I sighed again, closing my eyes and feeling pain at my conviction. My ears suddenly perked up when I heard the sad sound of a lonely saxophone being played from upstairs. Each note was like a hurting jab to my heart and I knew I had to get out of the house.

I picked up my mobile and rang the only person I knew who would hear my side of the story.

Milhouse.

~x~

When I arrived at the park, I saw Milhouse wave over to me, and I waved back... but felt half sombre with my actions.

He approached me and asked with a helpless growing smile over his lips, "Hey Bart, what's up?"

"Nothing... I guess. Y'know, like life and stuff is pretty messed up at the mo, y'know?"

Milhouse nodded his head slowly, seeming a bit confused at my muddled words. He finally said in a drawn-out voice, "Yeah... no. What are you talking about?"

I exhaled heavily and looked into his eyes. I finally let the words slip, "Lisa is engaged to Diggs. Y'know? My old friend."

Milhouse didn't say a word. His expression was unreadable. Like a brick had been thrown in his gut and his brain was still trying to register the pain.

"...what?"

"Lisa, Diggs, ENGAGED," I said, this time angrier, feeling like he hadn't heard me right the first time.

Milhouse wobbled on his feet and sat down on a wooden bench that was only a few steps away. His eyes were peering out at nothing like his brain and thoughts had taken every priority against his body.

"But..." He uttered, his glasses getting fogged up by his heavy breathing, "I love Lisa..."

SHOOT! I forgot completely about Milhouse's feelings for my sister. He had been in love with her for years... and Lis had always been either hot or cold to him. She didn't even realize how her stupid irrational decision would affect the ones that cared for her. The ones that loved her.

"It probably won't go through." I continued quickly, trying to soothe Milhouse's pained emotions, "She's only eleven! A STUPID little girl!"

"Where is he?!" Milhouse finally yelled, then clenched his teeth as his fists tightened with rage, "Where is that crazy bird boy!"

"Where else would a crazy bird boy be?" I replied, and directed my pointing finger to the highway that led towards the hospital, "In a psychiatric ward."

"I'm gonna GET him when he gets out."

"Yeah..." I said, nervous now as I hadn't seen Milhouse this angry in a very long time, "That might take a while."

"Where's Lisa?" Milhouse then yelled at me, and I jumped back a step at his furious words, "I have to hear it from her!"

"C'mon then." I said, getting a bit more courage in me and wanting this whole engagement to Diggs to be nipped in the bud, "I'll find her."

Within ten minutes we were back at home. Milhouse's anger from before had turned into sorrow the closer we had gotten to my family's house. When I pulled opened the door, I look around the house and listened intently to the air in case I missed the sound of a sad saxophone playing.

"Where is she...?" Milhouse asked me, his words wobbly and in pain. I ran up the stairs and rammed opened Lisa's room door, only to see when I had opened it that the room was empty. Deserted.

I did the only reasonable thing I could, I picked up my mobile and rang her number.

Milhouse came to the side of me and pressed his ear next to the other side of the phone. After a few rings, the phone beeped out of reception and I clenched its metal sides angrily, putting it quite forcefully back into my pants pocket.

"Where could she be?" Milhouse asked helplessly. I stood still for a few moments, thinking of all Lisa's favourite places and then it hit me like a tonne of bricks.

"THE HOSPITAL!"

"Oh no..." Milhouse peeped and the two of us ran out her door, flying down the stairs and reaching out to the front door's knob to leave and head back to the ward.

Just as I turned the knob, I saw Mum coming in from the other side, and the three of us crashed into each other with no warning.

"Bart-?" Mum spat out, surprised by the crash, "Where are you going-?"

"We have to find Lisa and-"

"Bart." Mum interrupted, holding her hand out to stop us as she stood up in front of us, "Please just let her live her life."

My eyebrows creased, and I felt my bottom lip wobble in pain at what she said, "I can't mum." I told her honestly, "Not when she is making a mistake."

My mother only sighed helplessly, rubbing the bridge of her nose in sad frustration before looking back into my worried eyes.

"Are you doing this for Lisa? Or yourself?"

For a second, I honestly didn't know how to answer that. Diggs was my friend... but my sister? She was too good for him, and I was afraid to admit that out loud.

I finally gulped and peered into my mother's eyes, uttering, "For the both of us."

"And me too." Milhouse butted in.

"Shut up, Milhouse," I said back to him instantly and mum sighed heavily, before pulling her keys out and pressing a button on it, the doors to her car unlocking instantly.

"Okay, then..." She mumbled, upset with my choice but supporting it none the less, "I'll give you a lift."

I shouldn't have been so selfish... I really shouldn't have. But I only understood the littlest of friendship and love... still maturing and making mistakes along the way.

But what I was about to do... could possibly be the biggest mistake I was ever gonna make.


End file.
